Key Terms for the AP Test

1. 1450-1650
• Humanism
• Liberal arts: education in Classics (Greek and Roman Lit), Rhetoric, and History.
• Christian Humanism
• Study of Humanism in a Christian context.
• Important name: Erasmus -- religious piety & institutional reform.
• Vernacular
• Everyday language of a people.
• Important facts: Cervantes / Don Quixote, Chaucer / Canterbury Tales, Dante / Divine Comedy, Martin Luther
• New Monarchs
• Centralized bureaucracy and professional armies.
• Charles VII, Louis XI, Henry VII, Ferdinand and Isabella.
• Taille
• Direct tax on the French peasantry.
• Reconquista
• Christian Spanish over Muslim Moors: 1492 last Muslim stronghold -- Granada -- overthrown.
• Indulgence
• Certificates sold by the papacy for the forgiveness of sin.
• Anabaptist
• Believed exclusively in adult baptism.  Also believed in complete separation of church and state.
• Predestination
• John Calvin: God has predetermined all things.
• Huguenots
• French Protestants who followed John Calvin.
• Politiques
• Ruler who puts political necessity above personal believe.  Example: Elizabeth I.
• Columbian Exchange
• Transfer of goods between the Americas and Europe.  Also includes slavery, animal transport, introduction of non-indigenous plants, and disease.
• Mercantilism
• Economic philosophy calling for close government regulation of the economy.  Maximizing exports and limiting imports.
• Joint-Stock Company
• Business where investors raise money for a venture no single one of them could afford.
• Absolutism
• Ruler claims sole and uncontestable power.  Example: Louis XIV
• Divine Right of Kings
• Idea that rulers received power and authority directly from God.
• Intendants
• French royal officials supervising provincial areas.  Key part of keeping the absolute monarchy the way it did.  The absolute monarch told the intendants what they wanted done and they did it for them.
• Fronde
• Series of rebellions against royal authority in France (1649-1652)